TERTULLIAN - SCORPIACE

ANTIDOTE FOR THE SCORPION'S STING

[TRANSLATED BY REV. S. THELWALL.]

CHAP. I.

THE earth brings forth, as if by suppuration, great
evil from the diminutive scorpion. The poisons are
as many as are the kinds of it, the disasters as many
as are also the species of it, the pains as many as
are also the colours of it. Nicander writes an the
subject of scorpions, and depicts them. And yet to
smite with the tail--which tail will be whatever is
prolonged from the hindmost part of the body, and scourges--is
the one movement which they all use when making an
assault. Wherefore that succession of knots in the
scorpion, which in the inside is a thin poisoned veinlet,
rising up with a bow-like bound, draws tight a barbed
sting at the end, after the manner of an engine for
shooting missiles. From which circumstance they also
call after the scorpion, the warlike implement which,
by its being drawn back, gives an impetus to the arrows.
The point in their case is also a duct of extreme minuteness,
to inflict the wound; and where it penetrates, it pours
out poison. The usual time of danger is the summer
season: fierceness hoists the sail when the wind is
from the south and the south-west. Among cures, certain
substances supplied by nature have very great efficacy;
magic also puts on some bandage; the art of healing
counteracts with lancet and cup. For some, making haste,
take also beforehand a protecting draught; but sexual
intercourse drains it off, and they are dry again.
We have faith for a defence, if we are not smitten
with distrust itself also, in immediately making the
sign[2] and adjuring,[3] and besmearing the heel with
the beast. Finally, we often aid in this way even the
heathen, seeing we have been endowed by God with that
power which the apostle first used when he despised
the viper's bite.[4] What, then, does this pen of yours
offer, if faith is safe by what it has of its own?
That it may be safe by what it has of its own also
at other times, when it is subjected to scorpions of
its own. These, too, have a troublesome littleness,
and are of different sorts, and are armed in one manner,
and are stirred up at a definite time, and that not
another than one of burning heat. This among Christians
is a season of persecution. When, therefore, faith
is greatly agitated, and the Church burning, as represented
by the bush,[5] then the Gnostics break out, then the
Valentinians creep forth, then all the opponents of
martyrdom bubble up, being themselves also hot to strike,
penetrate, kill. For, because they know that many are
artless and also inexperienced, and weak moreover,
that a very great number in truth are Christians who
veer about with the wind and conform to its moods,
they perceive that they are never to be approached
more than when fear has opened the entrances to the
soul, especially when some display of ferocity has
already arrayed with a crown the faith of martyrs.
Therefore, drawing along the tail hitherto, they first
of all apply it to the feelings, or whip with it as
if on empty space. Innocent persons undergo such suffering.
So that you may suppose the speaker to be a brother
or a heathen of the better sort.

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A sect troublesome to nobody so dealt with! Then they
pierce. Men are perishing without a reason. For that
they are perishing, and without a reason, is the first
insertion. Then they now strike mortally. But the unsophisticated
souls[1] know not what is written, and what meaning
it bears, where and when and before whom we must confess,
or ought, save that this, to die for God, is, since
He preserves me, not even artlessness, but folly, nay
madness. If He kills me, how will it be His duty to
preserve me? Once for all Christ died for us, once
for all He was slain that we might not be slain. If
He demands the like from me in return, does He also
look for salvation from my death by violence? Or does
God importune for the blood of men, especially if He
refuses that of bulls and he-goats?[2] Assuredly He
had rather have the repentance than the death of the
sinner.[3] And how is He eager for the death of those
who are not sinners? Whom will not these, and perhaps
other subtle devices containing heretical poisons,
pierce either for doubt if not for destruction, or
for irritation if not for death? As for you, therefore,
do you, if faith is on the alert, smite on the spot
the scorpion with a curse, so far as you can, with
your sandal, and leave it dying in its own stupefaction?
But if it gluts the wound, it drives the poison inwards,
and makes it hasten into the bowels; forthwith all
the former senses become dull, the blood of the mind
freezes, the flesh of the spirit pines away, loathing
for the Christian name is accompanied by a sense of
sourness. Already the understanding also seeks for
itself a place where it may throw up; and thus, once
for all, the weakness with which it has been smitten
breathes out wounded faith either in heresy or in heathenism.
And now the present state of matters is such, that
we are in the midst of an intense heat, the very dog-star
of persecution,--a state originating doubtless with
the dog-headed one himself.[4] Of some Christians the
fire, of others the sword, of others the beasts, have
made trial; others are hungering in prison for the
martyrdoms of which they have had a taste in the meantime
by being subjected to clubs and claws[5] besides. We
ourselves, having been appointed for pursuit, are like
hares being hemmed in from a distance; and heretics
go about according to their wont. Therefore the state
of the times has prompted me to prepare by my pen,
in opposition to the little beasts which trouble our
sect, our antidote against poison, that I may thereby
effect cures. You who read will at the same time drink.
Nor is the draught bitter. If the utterances of the
Lord are sweeter than honey and the honeycombs,[6]
the juices are from that source. If the promise of
God flows with milk and honey,[7] the ingredients which
go to make that draught have the smack of this. "But
woe to them who turn sweet into bitter, and light into
darkness."[8] For, in like manner, they also who
oppose martyrdoms, representing salvation to be destruction,
transmute sweet into bitter, as well as light into
darkness; and thus, by preferring this very wretched
life to that most blessed one, they put bitter for
sweet, as well as darkness for light.

CHAP. II.

But not yet about the good to be got from martyrdom
must we learn, without our having first heard about
the duty of suffering it; nor must we learn the usefulness
of it, before we have heard about the necessity for
it. The (question of the)divine warrant goes first--whether
God has willed and also commanded ought of the kind,
so that they who assert that it is not good are not
plied with arguments for thinking it profitable save
when they have been subdued.[9] It is proper that
heretics be driven[10] to duty, not enticed. Obstinacy
must be conquered, not coaxed. And, certainly, that
will be pronounced beforehand quite good enough, which
will be shown to have been instituted and also enjoined
by God. Let the Gospels wait a little, while I set
forth their root the Law, while I ascertain the will
of God from those writings from which I recall to mind
Himself also: "I am," says He, "God,
thy God, who have brought thee out of the land of Egypt.
Thou shalt have no other gods besides me. Thou shalt
not make unto thee a likeness of those things which
are in heaven, and which are in the earth beneath,
and which are in the sea under the earth. Thou shalt
not worship them, nor serve them. For I am the Lord
thy God."[11] Likewise in the same book of Exodus:
"Ye yourselves have seen that I have talked with
you from heaven. Ye shall not make unto you gods of
silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold."[12]
To the following effect also, in Deuteromy: "Hear,
O Israel; The Lord thy God is one: and thou shalt love
the

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Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy might, and
with all thy soul."[1] And again: "Neither
do thou forget the Lord thy God, who brought thee forth
from the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve Him only,
and cleave to Him, and swear by His name. Ye shall
not go after strange gods, and the gods of the nations
which are round about you, because the Lord thy God
is also a jealous God among you, and lest His anger
should be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from
off the face of the earth."[2] But setting before
them blessings and curses, He also says: "Blessings
shall be yours, if ye obey the commandments of the
Lord your God, whatsoever I command you this day, and
do not wander from the way which I have commanded you,
to go and serve other gods whom ye know not."[3]
And as to rooting them out in every way: "Ye shall
utterly destroy all the places wherein the nations,
which ye shall possess by inheritance, served their
gods, upon mountains and hills, and under shady trees.
Ye shall overthrow all their altars, ye shall overturn
and break in pieces their pillars, and cut down their
groves, and burn with fire the graven images of the
gods themselves, and destroy the names of them out
of that place."[4] He further urges, when they
(the Israelites) had entered the land of promise, and
driven out its nations: "Take heed to thy self,
that thou do not follow them after they be driven out
from before thee, that thou do not inquire after their
gods, saying, As the nations serve their gods, so let
me do likewise."[5] But also says He: "If
there arise among you a prophet himself, or a dreamer
of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and
it come to pass, and he say, Let us go and serve other
gods, whom ye know not, do not hearken to the words
of that prophet or dreamer, for the Lord your God proveth
you, to know whether ye fear God with all your heart
and with all your soul. After the Lord your God ye
shall go, and fear Him, and keep His commandments,
and obey His voice, and serve Him, and cleave unto
Him. But that prophet or dreamer shall die; for he
has spoken to turn thee away from the Lord thy God."[6]
But also in another section.[7] "If, however,
thy brother, the son of thy father or of thy mother,
or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom,
or thy friend who is as thine own soul, solicit thee,
saying secretly, Let us go and serve other gods, which
thou knowest not, nor did thy fathers, of the gods
of the nations which are round about thee, very nigh
unto thee or far off from thee, do not consent to go
with him, and do not hearken to him. Thine eye shall
not spare him, neither shalt thou pity, neither shalt
thou preserve him; thou shall certainly inform upon
him. Thine hand shall be first upon him to kill him,
and afterwards the hand of thy people; and ye shall
stone him, and he shall die, seeing he has sought to
turn thee away from the Lord thy God."[8] He adds
likewise concerning cities, that if it appeared that
one of these had, through the advice of unrighteous
men, passed over to other gods, all its inhabitants
should be slain, and everything belonging to it become
accursed, and all the spoil of it be gathered together
into all its places of egress, and be, even with all
the people, burned with fire in all its streets in
the sight of the Lord God; and, says He, "it shall
not be for dwelling in for ever: it shall not be built
again any more, and there shall cleave to thy hands
nought of its accursed plunder, that the Lord may turn
from the fierceness of His anger."[9] He has,
from His abhorrence of idols, framed a series of curses
too: "Cursed be the man who maketh a graven or
a molten image, an abomination, the work of the hands
of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place."[10]
But in Leviticus He says: "Go not ye after idols,
nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the Lord your
God."[11] And in other passages: "The children
of Israel are my household servants; these are they
whom I led forth from the land of Egypt:[12] I am the
Lord your God. Ye shall not make you idols fashioned
by the hand, neither rear you up a graven image. Nor
shall ye set up a remarkable stone in your land (to
worship it): I am the Lord your God."[13] These
words indeed were first spoken by the Lord by the lips
of Moses, being applicable certainly to whomsoever
the Lord God of Israel may lead forth in like manner
from the Egypt of a most superstitious world, and from
the abode of human slavery. But from the mouth of every
prophet in succession, sound forth also utterances
of the same God, augmenting the same law of His by
a renewal of the same commands, and in the first place
announcing no other duty in so special a manner as
the being on guard against all making and worshipping
of idols; as when

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by the mouth of David He says: "The gods of the
nations are silver and gold: they have eyes, and see
not; they have ears, and hear not; they have a nose,
and smell not; a mouth, and they speak not; hands,
and they handle not; feet and they walk not. Like to
them shall be they who make them, and trust in them."[1]

CHAP. III.

Nor should I think it needful to discuss whether
God pursues a worthy course in forbidding His own name
and honour to be given over to a lie, or does so in
not consenting that such as He has plucked from the
maze of false religion should return again to Egypt,
or does so in not suffering to depart from Him them
whom He has chosen for Himself. Thus that, too, will
not require to be treated by us, whether He has wished
to be kept the rule which He has chosen to appoint,
and whether He justly avenges the abandonment of the
rule which He has wished to be kept; since He would
have appointed it to no purpose if He had not wished
it kept, and would have to no purpose wished it kept
if He had been unwilling to uphold it. My next step,
indeed, is to put to the test these appointments of
God in opposition to false religions, the completely
vanquished as well as also the punished, since on these
will depend the entire argument for martyrdoms. Moses
was apart with God on the mountain, when the people,
not brooking his absence, which was so needful, seek
to make gods for themselves, which, for his own part,
he will prefer to destroy.[2] Aaron is importuned,
and commands that the earrings of their women be brought
together, that they may be thrown into the fire. For
the people were about to lose, as a judgment upon themselves,
the true ornaments for the ears, the words of God.
The wise fire makes for them the molten likeness of
a calf, reproaching them with having the heart where
they have their treasure also,--in Egypt, to wit, which
clothed with sacredness, among the other animals, a
certain ox likewise. Therefore the slaughter of three
thousand by their nearest relatives, because they had
displeased their so very near relative God, solemnly
marked both the commencement and the deserts of the
trespass. Israel having, as we are I told in Numbers,[3]
turned aside at Sethim, the people go to the daughters
of Moab to gratify their lust: they are allured to
the idols, so that they committed whoredom with the
spirit also: finally, they eat of their defiled sacrifices;
then they both worship the gods of the nation, and
are admired to the rites of Beelphegor. For this lapse,
too, into idolatry, sister to adultery, it took the
slaughter of twenty-three thousand by the swords of
their countrymen to appease the divine anger. After
the death of Joshua the son of Nave they forsake the
God of their fathers, and serve idols, Baalim and Ashtaroth;[4]
and the Lord in anger delivered them up to the hands
of spoilers, and they continued to be spoiled by them,
and to be sold to their adversaries, and could not
at all stand before their enemies. Whithersoever they
went forth, His hand was upon them for evil, and they
were greatly distressed. And after this God sets judges
(critas), the same as our censors, over them. But not
even these did they continue steadfastly to obey. So
soon as one of the judges died, they proceeded to transgress
more than their fathers had done by going after the
gods of others, and serving and worshipping them. Therefore
the Lord was angry. "Since, indeed," He says,
"this nation have transgressed my covenant which
I established with their fathers, and have not hearkened
to my voice, I also will give no heed to remove from
before them a man of the nations which Joshua left
at his death."[5] And thus, throughout almost
all the annals of the judges and of the kings who succeeded
them, while the strength of the surrounding nations
was preserved, He meted wrath out to Israel by war
and captivity and a foreign yoke, as often as they
turned aside from Him, especially to idolatry.

CHAP. IV.

If, therefore, it is evident that from the beginning
this kind of worship has both been forbidden--witness
the commands so numerous and weighty--and that it has
never been engaged in without punishment following,
as examples so numerous and impressive show, and that
no offence is counted by God so presumptuous as a trespass
of this sort, we ought further to perceive the purport
of both the divine threatenings and their fulfilments,
which was even then commended not only by the not calling
in question, but also by the enduring of martyrdoms,
for which certainly He had given occasion by forbidding
idolatry. For otherwise martyrdoms would not take place.
And certainly He had supplied, as a warrant for these,
His own authority, willing those events to come to
pass for the occurrence of which He had given occasion.
At present (it is important), for we are getting severely
stung concerning the will of God,

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and the scorpion repeats the prick, denying the existence
of this will, finding fault with it, so that he either
insinuates that there is another god, such that this
is not his will, or none the less overthrows ours,
seeing such is his will, or altogether denies this
will of God, if he cannot deny Himself. But,for our
part, contending elsewhere about God, and about all
the rest of the body of heretical teaching, we now
draw before us definite lines[1] for one form of encounter,
maintaining that this will, such as to have given occasion
for martyrdoms, is that of not another god than the
God of Israel, on the ground of the commandments relating
to an always forbidden, as well as of the judgments
upon a punished, idolatry. For if the keeping of a
command involves the suffering of violence, this will
be, so to speak, a command about keeping the command,
requiring me to suffer that through which I shall be
able to keep the command, violence namely, whatever
of it threatens me when on my guard against idolatry.
And certainly (in the case supposed) the Author of
the command extorts compliance with it. He could not,
therefore, have been unwilling that those events should
come to pass by means of which the compliance will
be manifest. The injunction is given me not to make
mention of any other god, not even by speaking,--as
little by the tongue as by the hand,--to fashion a
god, and not to worship or in any way show reverence
to another than Him only who thus commands me, whom
I am both bid fear that I may not be forsaken by Him,
and love with my whole being, that I may die for Him.
Serving as a soldier under this oath, I am challenged
by the enemy. If I surrender to them, I am as they
are. In maintaining this oath, I fight furiously in
battle, am wounded, hewn in pieces, slain. Who wished
this fatal issue to his soldier, but he who sealed
him by such an oath?

CHAP. V.

You have therefore the will of my God. We have cured
this prick. Let us give good heed to another thrust
touching the character of His will. It would be tedious
to show that my God is good,--a truth with which the
Marcionites have now been made acquainted by us. Meanwhile
it is enough that He is called God for its being necessary
that He should be believed to be good. For if any one
make the supposition that God is evil, he will not
be able to take his stand on both the constituents
thereof: he will be bound either to affirm that he
whom he has thought to be evil is not God, or that
he whom he has proclaimed to be God is good. Good,
therefore, will be the will also of him who, unless
he is good, will not be God. The goodness of the thing
itself also which God has willed--of martyrdom, I mean--will
show this, because only one who is good has willed
what is good. I stoutly maintain that martyrdom is
good, as required by the God by whom likewise idolatry
is forbidden and punished. For martyrdom strives against
and opposes idolatry. But to strive against and oppose
evil cannot be ought but good. Not as if I denied that
there is a rivalry in evil things with one another,
as well as in good also; but this ground for it requires
a different state of matters. For martyrdom contends
with idolatry, not from some malice which they share,
but from its own kindness; for it delivers from idolatry.
Who will not proclaim that to be good which delivers
from idolatry? What else is the opposition between
idolatry and martyrdom, than that between life and
death? Life will be counted to be martyrdom as much
as idolatry to be death. He who will call life an evil,
has death to speak of as a good. This frowardness also
appertains to men,--to discard what is wholesome, to
accept what is baleful, to avoid all dangerous cures,
or, in short, to be eager to die rather than to be
healed. For they are many who flee from the aid of
physic also, many in folly, many from fear and false
modesty. And the healing art has manifestly an apparent
cruelty, by reason of the lancet, and of the burning
iron, and of the great heat of the mustard; yet to
be cut and burned, and pulled and bitten, is not on
that account an evil, for it occasions helpful pains;
nor will it be refused merely because it afflicts,
but because it afflicts inevitably will it be applied.
The good accruing is the apology for the frightfulness
of the work. In short, that man who is howling and
groaning and bellowing in the hands of a physician
will presently load the same hands with a fee, and
proclaim that they are the best operators, and no longer
affirm that they are cruel. Thus martyrdoms also rage
furiously, but for salvation. God also will be at liberty
to heal for everlasting life by means of fires and
swords, and all that is painful. But you will admire
the physician at least even in that respect, that for
the most part he employs like properties in the cures
to counteract the properties of the diseases,when he
aids, as it were, the wrong way, succouring by means
of those things to which the affliction is owing. For
he both checks heat by heat, by laying on a greater
load; and subdues inflammation by leaving thirst unappeased,
by tormenting rather; and contracts the superabundance
of

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bile by every bitter little draught, and stops hemorrhage
by opening a veinlet in addition. But you will think
that God must be found fault with, and that for being
jealous, if He has chosen to contend with a disease
and to do good by imitating the malady, to destroy
death by death, to dissipate killing by killing, to
dispel tortures by tortures, to disperse[1] punishments
by punishments, to bestow life by withdrawing it, to
aid the flesh by injuring it, to preserve the soul
by snatching it away. The wrongheadedness, as you deem
it to be, is reasonableness; what you count cruelty
is kindness. Thus, seeing God by brief (sufferings)
effects cures for eternity, extol your God for your
prosperity; you have fallen into His hands, but have
happily fallen. He also fell into your sicknesses.
Man always first provides employment for the physician;
in short, he has brought upon himself the danger of
death. He had received from his own Lord, as from a
physician, the salutary enough rule to live according
to the law, that he should eat of all indeed (that
the garden produced) and should refrain from only one
little tree which in the meantime the Physician Himself
knew as a perilous one. He gave ear to him whom he
preferred, and broke through self-restraint. He ate
what was forbidden, and, surfeited by the trespass,
suffered indigestion tending to death; he certainly
richly deserving to lose his life altogether who wished
to do so. But the inflamed tumour due to the trespass
having been endured until in due time the medicine
might be mixed, the Lord gradually prepared the means
of healing--all the rules of faith, they also bearing
a resemblance to (the causes of) the ailment, seeing
they annul the word of death by the word of life, and
diminish the trespass-listening by a listening of allegiance.
Thus, even when that Physician commands one to die,
He drives out the lethargy of death. Why does man show
reluctance to suffer now from a cure, what he was not
reluctant then to suffer from a disorder? Does he dislike
being killed for salvation, who did not dislike being
killed for destruction?--Will he feel squeamish with
reference to the counter poison, who gaped for the
poison?

CHAP. VI.

But if, for the contest's sake, God had appointed
martrydoms for us, that thereby we might make trial
with our opponent, in order that He may now keep bruising
him by whom man chose to be bruised, here too generosity
rather than harshness in God holds sway. For He wished
to make man, now plucked from the devil's throat by
faith, trample upon him likewise by courage, that he
might not merely have escaped from, but also completely
vanquished, his enemy. He who had called to salvation
has been pleased to summon to glory also, that they
who were rejoicing in consequence of their deliverance
may be in transports when they are crowned likewise.
With what good-will the world celebrates those games,
the combative festivals and superstitious contests
of the Greeks, involving forms both of worship and
of pleasure, has now become clear in Africa also. As
yet cities, by sending their congratulations severally,
annoy Carthage, which was presented with the Pythian
game after the racecourse had attained to an old age.
Thus, by the world[2] it has been believed to be a
most proper mode of testing proficiency in studies,
to put in competition the forms of skill, to elicit
the existing condition of bodies and of voices, the
reward being the informer, the public exhibition the
judge, and pleasure the decision. Where there are mere
contests, there are some wounds: fists make reel, heels
kick like butting rams, boxing-gloves mangle, whips
leave gashes. Yet there will be no one reproaching
the superintendent of the contest for exposing men
to outrage. Suits for injuries lie outside the racecourse.
But to the extent that those persons deal in discoloration,
and gore, and swellings, he will design for them crowns,
doubtless, and glory, and a present, political privileges,
contributions by the citizens, images, statues, and--of
such sort as the world can give--an eternity of fame,
a resurrection by being kept in remembrance. The pugilist
himself does not complain of feeling pain, for he wishes
it; the crown closes the wounds, the palm hides the
blood: he is excited more by victory than by injury.
Will you count this man hurt whom you see happy? But
not even the vanquished himself will reproach the superintendent
of the contest for his misfortune. Shall it be unbecoming
in God to bring forth kinds of skill and rules of His
own into public view, into this open ground of the
world, to be seen by men, and angels, and all powers?--to
test flesh and spirit as to stedfastness and endurance?--to
give to this one the palm, to this one distinction,
to that one the privilege of citizenship, to that one
pay?--to reject some also, and after punishing to remove
them with disgrace? You dictate to God, forsooth, the
times, or the ways, or the places in which to institute
a trial concerning His own troop (of competitors) as
if it were not proper for the Judge to pronounce

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the preliminary decision also. Well now, if He had put
forth faith to suffer martyrdoms not for the contest's
sake, but for its own benefit, ought it not to have
had some store of hope, for the increase of which it
might restrain desire of its own, and check its wish
in order that it might strive to mount up, seeing they
also who discharge earthly functions are eager for
promotion? Or how will there be many mansions in our
Father's house, if not to accord with a diversity of
deserts? How will one star also differ from another
star in glory, unless in virtue of disparity in their
rays?[1] But further, if, on that account, some increase
of brightness also was appropriate to loftiness of
faith, that gain ought to have been of some such sort
as would cost great effort, poignant suffering, torture,
death. But consider the requital, when flesh and life
are paid away--than which in man there is nought more
precious, the one from the hand of God, the other from
His breath--that the very things are paid away in obtaining
the benefit of which the benefit consists; that the
very things are expended which may be acquired; that
the same things are the price which are also the commodities.
God had foreseen also other weaknesses incident to
the condition of man,--the stratagems of the enemy,
the deceptive aspects of the creatures, the snares
of the world; that faith, even after baptism, would
be endangered; that the most, after attaining unto
salvation, would be lost again, through soiling the
wedding-dress, through failing to provide oil for their
torchlets--would be such as would have to be sought
for over mountains and woodlands, and carried back
upon the shoulders. He therefore appointed as second
supplies of comfort, and the last means of succour,
the fight of martyrdom and the baptism--thereafter
free from danger--of blood. And concerning the happiness
of the man who has partaken of these, David says: "Blessed
are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins
are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will
not impute sin."[2] For, strictly speaking, there
cannot any longer be reckoned ought against the martyrs,
by whom in the baptism (of blood) life itself is laid
down. Thus, "love covers the multitude of sins;"[3]
and loving God, to wit, with all its strength (by which
in the endurance of martyrdom it maintains the fight),
with all its life[4] (which it lays down for God),
it makes of man a martyr. Shall you call these cures,
counsels, methods of judging, spectacles, (illustrations
of) even the barbarity of God? Does God covet man's
blood? And yet I might venture to affirm that He does,
if man also covets the kingdom of heaven, if man covets
a sure salvation, if man also covets a second new birth.
The exchange is displeasing to no one, which can plead,
in justification of itself, that either benefit or
injury is shared by the parties making it.

CHAP. VII.

If the scorpion, swinging his tail in the air, still
reproach us with having a murderer for our God, I shall
shudder at the altogether foul breath of blasphemy
which comes stinking from his heretical mouth; but
I will embrace even such a God, with assurance derived
from reason, by which reason even He Himself has, in
the person of His own Wisdom, by the lips of Solomon,
proclaimed Himself to be more than a murderer: Wisdom
(Sophia), says He has slain her own children.[5] Sophia
is Wisdom. She has certainly slain them wisely if only
into life, and reasonably if only into glory. Of murder
by a parent, oh the clever form ! Oh the dexterity
of crime ! Oh the proof of cruelty, which has slain
for this reason, that he whom it may have slain may
not die ! And therefore what follows? Wisdom is praised
in hymns, in the places of egress; for the death of
martyrs also is praised in song. Wisdom behaves with
firmness in the streets, for with good results does
she murder her own sons.[6] Nay, on the top of the
walls she speaks with assurance, when indeed, according
to Esaias, this one calls out, "I am God's;"
and this one shouts, "In the name of Jacob;"
and another writes, "In the name of Israel."[7]
O good mother! I myself also wish to be put among the
number of her sons, that I may be slain by her; I wish
to be slain, that I may become a son. But does she
merely murder her sons, or also torture them? For I
hear God also, in another passage, say, "I will
burn them as gold is burned, and will try them as silver
is tried."[8] Certainly by the means of torture
which fires and punishments supply, by the testing
martyrdoms of faith. The apostle also knows what kind
of God he has ascribed to us, when he writes: "If
God spared not His own Son, but gave Him up for us,
how did He not with Him also give us all things?"[9]
You see how divine Wisdom has murdered even her own
proper,

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first-born and only Son, who is certainly about to live,
nay, to bring back the others also into life. I can
say with the Wisdom of God; It is Christ who gave Himself
up for our offences.[1] Already has Wisdom butchered
herself also. The character of words depends not on
the sound only, but on the meaning also, and they must
be heard not merely by ears, but also by minds. He
who does not understand, believes God to be cruel;
although for him also who does not understand, an announcement
has been made to restrain his harshness in understanding
otherwise than aright. "For who," says the
apostle," has known the mind of the Lord? or who
has been His counsellor, to teach Him? or who has pointed
out to Him the way of understanding?"[2] But,
indeed, the world has held it lawful for Diana of the
Scythians, or Mercury of the Gauls, or Saturn of the
Africans, to be appeased by human sacrifices; and in
Latium to this day Jupiter has human blood given him
to taste in the midst of the city; and no one makes
it a matter of discussion, or imagines that it does
not occur for some reason, or that it occurs by the
will of his God, without having value. If our God,
too, to have a sacrifice of His own, had required martyrdoms
for Himself, who would have reproached Him for the
deadly religion, and the mournful ceremonies, and the
altar-pyre, and the undertaker-priest, and not rather
have counted happy the man whom God should have devoured?

CHAP. VIII.

We keep therefore the one position, and, in respect
of this question only, summon to an encounter, whether
martyrdoms have been commanded by God, that you may
believe that they have been commanded by reason, if
you know that they have been commanded by Him, because
God will not command ought without reason. Since the
death of His own saints is precious is His sight, as
David sings,[3] it is not, I think, that one which
falls to the lot of men generally, and is a debt due
by all (rather is that one even disgraceful on account
of the trespass, and the desert of condemnation to
which it is ta be traced), but that other which is
met in this very work--in bearing witness for religion,
and maintaining the fight of confession in behalf of
righteousness and the sacrament. As saith Esaias, "See
how the righteous man perisheth, and no one layeth
it to heart; and righteous men are taken away, and
no one considereth it: for from before the face of
unrighteousness the righteous man perisheth, and he
shall have honour at his burial."[4] Here, too,
you have both an announcement of martrydoms, and of
the recompense they bring. From the beginning, indeed,
righteousness suffers violence. Forthwith, as soon
as God has begun to be worshipped, religion has got
ill-will for her portion. He who had pleased God is
slain, and that by his brother. Beginning with kindred
blood, in order that it might the more easily go in
quest of that of strangers, ungodliness made the object
of its pursuit, finally, that not only of righteous
persons, but even of prophets also. David is persecuted;
Elias put to flight; Jeremias stoned; Esaias cut asunder;
Zacharias butchered between the altar and the temple,
imparting to the hard stones lasting marks of his blood.[5]
That person himself, at the close of the law and the
prophets, and called not a prophet, but a messenger,
is, suffering an ignominious death, beheaded to reward
a dancing-girl. And certainly they who were wont to
be led by the Spirit of God used to be guided by Himself
to martyrdoms; so that they had even already to endure
what they had also proclaimed as requiring to be borne.
Wherefore the brotherhood of the three also, when the
dedication of the royal image was the occasion of the
citizens being pressed to offer worship, knew well
what faith, which alone in them had not been taken
captive, required,--namely, that they must resist idolatry
to the death.[6] For they remembered also the words
of Jeremias writing to those over whom that captivity
was impending: "And now ye shall see borne upon
(men's) shoulders the gods of the Babylonians, of gold
and silver and wood, causing fear to the Gentiles.
Beware, therefore, that ye also do not be altogether
like the foreigners, and be seized with fear while
ye behold crowds worshipping those gods before and
behind, but say in your mind, Our duty is to worship
Thee, O Lord."[7] Therefore, having got confidence
from God, they said, when with strength of mind they
set at defiance the king' s threats against the disobedient:
"There is no necessity for our making answer to
this command of yours. For our God whom we worship
is able to deliver us from the furnace of fire and
from your hands; and then it will be made plain to
you that we shall neither serve your idol, nor worship
your golden image which you have set up."[8] O
martyrdom even without suffering perfect! Enough did
they suffer! enough were they burned,

641

whom on this account God shielded, that it might not
seem that they had given a false representation of
His power. For forthwith, certainly, would the lions,
with their pent-up and wonted savageness, have devoured
Daniel also, a worshipper of none but God, and therefore
accused and demanded by the Chaldeans, if it had been
right that the worthy anticipation of Darius concerning
God should have proved delusive. For the rest, every
preacher of God, and every worshipper also, such as,
having been summoned to the service of idolatry, had
refused compliance, ought to have suffered, agreeably
to the tenor of that argument too, by which the truth
ought to have been recommended both to those who were
then living and to those following in succession,--(namely),
that the suffering of its defenders themselves bespeak
trust for it, because nobody would have been willing
to be slain but one possessing the truth. Such commands
as well as instances, remounting to earliest times,
show that believers are under obligation to suffer
martyrdom.

CHAP. IX.

It remains for us, lest ancient times may perhaps
have had the sacrament[1] (exclusively) their own,
to review the modern Christian system, as though, being
also from God, it might be different from what preceded,
and besides, therefore, opposed thereto in its code
of rules likewise, so that its Wisdom knows not to
murder her own sons! Evidently, in the case of Christ
both the divine nature and the will and the sect are
different from any previously known ! He will have
commanded either no martyrdoms at all, or those which
must be understood in a sense different from the ordinary,
being such a person as to urge no one to a risk of
this kind as to promise no reward to them who suffer
for Him, because He does not wish them to suffer; and
therefore does He say, when setting forth His chief
commands, "Blessed are they who are persecuted
for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven."[2] The following statement, indeed,
applies first to all without restriction, then specially
to the apostles themselves:" Blessed shall ye
be when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and
shall say all manner of evil against you, for my sake.
Rejoice and be exceeding glad, since very great is
your reward in heaven; for so used their fathers to
do even to the prophets." So that He likewise
foretold their having to be themselves also slain,
after the example of the prophets. Though, even if
He had appointed all this persecution in case He were
obeyed for those only who were then apostles, assuredly
through them along with the entire sacrament, with
the shoot of the name, with the layer of the Holy Spirit,
the rule about enduring persecution also would have
had respect to us too, as to disciples by inheritance,
and, (as it were,)bushes from the apostolic seed. For
even thus again does He address words of guidance to
the apostles: "Behold, I send you forth as sheep
in the midst of wolves;" and, "Beware of
men, for they will deliver you up to the councils,
and they will scourge you in their synagogues; and
ye shall be brought before governors and kings for
my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles,"
etc.[3] Now when He adds, "But the brother will
deliver up the brother to death, and the father the
child; and the children shall rise up against their
parents, and cause them to be put to death," He
has dearly announced with reference to the others,
(that they would be subjected to) this form of unrighteous
conduct, which we do not find exemplified in the case
of the apostles. For none of them had experience of
a father or a brother as a betrayer, which very many
of us have. Then He returns to the apostles: "And
ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake."
How much more shall we, for whom there exists the necessity
of being delivered up by parents too! Thus, by allotting
this very betrayal, now to the apostles, now to all,
He pours out the same destruction upon all the possessors
of the name, on whom the name. along with the condition
that it be an object of hatred, will rest. But he who
will endure on to the end--this man will be saved.
By enduring what but persecution,--betrayal,--death?
For to endure to the end is nought else than to suffer
the end. And therefore there immediately follow, "The
disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above
his own lord;" because, seeing the Master and
Lord Himself was stedfast in suffering persecution,
betrayal and death, much more will it be the duty of
His servants and disciples to bear the same, that they
may not seem as if superior to Him, or to have got
an immunity from the assaults of unrighteousness, since
this itself should be glory enough for them, to be
conformed to the sufferings of their Lord and Master;
and, preparing them for the endurance of these, He
reminds them that they must not fear such persons as
kill the body only, but are not able to destroy the
soul, but that they must dedicate fear to Him rather

642

who has such power that He can kill both body and soul,
and destroy them in hell. Who, pray, are these slayers
of the body only, but the governors and kings aforesaid--men,
I ween? Who is the ruler of the soul also, but God
only? Who is this but the threatener of fires hereafter,
He without whose will not even one of two sparrows
falls to the ground; that is, not even one of the two
substances of man, flesh or spirit, because the number
of our hairs also has been recorded before Him? Fear
ye not, therefore. When He adds, "Ye are of more
value than many sparrows," He makes promise that
we shall not in vain--that is, not without profit--fall
to the ground if we choose to be killed by men rather
than by God. "Whosoever therefore will confess
in me before men, in him will I confess also before
my Father who is in heaven;[1] and whosoever shall
deny me before men, him will I deny also before my
Father who is in heaven." Clear, as I think, are
the terms used in announcing, and the way to explain,
the confession as well as the denial, although the
mode of putting them is different. He who confesses
himself a Christian, beareth witness that he is Christ's;
he who is Christ's must be in Christ. If he is in Christ,
he certainly confesses in Christ, when he confesses
himself a Christian. For he cannot be this without
being in Christ. Besides, by confessing in Christ he
confesses Christ too: since, by virtue of being a Christian,
he is in Christ, while Christ Himself also is in him.
For if you have made mention of day, you have also
held out to view the element of light which gives us
day, although you may not have made mention of light.
Thus, albeit He has not expressly said, "He who
will confess me," (yet) the conduct involved in
daily confession Is not different from what is meant
in our Lord's declaration. For he who confesses himself
to be what he is, that is, a Christian, confesses that
likewise by which he is it, that is, Christ. Therefore
he who has denied that he is a Christian, has denied
in Christ, by denying that he is in Christ while he
denies that he is a Christian; and, on the other hand,
by denying that Christ is in him, while He denies that
he is in Christ, he will deny Christ too. Thus both
he who will deny in Christ, will deny Christ, and he
who will confess in Christ will confess Christ. It
would have been enough, therefore, though our Lord
had made an announcement about confessing merely. For,
from His mode of presenting confession, it might be
decided beforehand with reference to its opposite too--denial,
that is--that denial is repaid by the Lord with denial,
just as confession is with confession. And therefore,
since in the mould in which the confession has been
cast the state of (the case with reference to) denial
also may be perceived, it is evident that to another
manner of denial belongs what the Lord has announced
concerning it, in terms different from those in which
He speaks of confession, when He says, "Who will
deny me," not "Who will deny in me."
For He had foreseen that this form of violence also
would, for the most part, immediately follow when any
one had been forced to renounce the Christian name,--that
he who had denied that he was a Christian would be
compelled to deny Christ Himself too by blaspheming
Him. As not long ago, alas, we shuddered at the struggle
waged in this way by some with their entire faith,
which had had favourable omens. Therefore it will be
to no purpose to say, "Though I shall deny that
I am a Christian, I shall not be denied by Christ,
for I have not denied Himself." For even so much
will be inferred from that denial, by which, seeing
he denies Christ in him by denying that he is a Christian,
he has denied Christ Himself also. But there is more,
because He threatens likewise shame with shame (in
return): "Whosoever shall be ashamed of me before
men, of him will I also be ashamed before my Father
who is in heaven." For He was aware that denial
is produced even most of all by shame, that the state
of the mind appears in the forehead, and that the wound
of shame precedes that in the body.

CHAP. X.

But as to those who think that not here, that is,
not within this environment of earth, nor during this
period of existence, nor before men possessing this
nature shared by us all, has confession been appointed
to be made, what a supposition is theirs, being at
variance with the whole order of things of which we
have experience in these lands, and in this life, and
under human authorities! Doubtless, when the souls
have departed from their bodies, and begun to be put
upon trial in the several stories of the heavens, with
reference to the engagement (under which they have
come to Jesus), and to be questioned about those hidden
mysteries of the heretics, they must then confess before
the real powers and the real men,--the Teleti,[2] to
wit, and the Abascanti,[3] and the Acineti[4] of Valentinus!

643

For, say they, even the Demiurge himself did not uniformly
approve of the men of our world, whom he counted as
a drop of a bucket,[1] and the dust of the threshing-floor,
and spittle and locusts, and put on a level even with
brute beasts. Clearly, it is so written. Yet not therefore
must we understand that there is, besides us, another
kind of man, which--for it is evidently thus (in the
case proposed)--has been able to assume without invalidating
a comparison between the two kinds, both the characteristics
of the race and a unique property. For even if the
life was tainted, so that condemned to contempt it
might be likened to objects held in contempt, the nature
was not forthwith taken away, so that there might be
supposed to be another under its name. Rather is the
nature preserved, though the life blushes; nor does
Christ know other men than those with reference to
whom He says, "Whom do men say that I am?"[2]
And, "As ye would that men should do to you, do
ye likewise so to, them."[3] Consider whether
He may not have I preserved a race such that He is
looking for a testimony to Himself from them, as well
as l consisting of those on whom He enjoins the interchange
of righteous dealing. But if I should urgently demand
that those heavenly men be described to me, Aratus
will sketch more easily Perseus and Cepheus, and Erigone,
and Ariadne, among the constellations. But who prevented
the Lord from clearly prescribing that confession by
men likewise has to be made where He plainly announced
that His own would be; so that the statement might
have run thus :" Whosoever shall confess in me
before men in heaven, I also will confess in him before
my Father who is in heaven?" He ought to have
saved me from this mistake about confession on earth,
which He would not have wished me to take part in,
if He had commanded one in heaven; for I knew no other
men but the inhabitants of the earth, man himself even
not having up to that time been observed in heaven.
Besides, what is the credibility of the things (alleged),
that, being after death raised to heavenly places,
I should be put to the test there, whither I would
not be translated without being already tested, that
I should there be tried in reference to a command where
I could not come, but to find admittance? Heaven lies
open to the Christian before the way to it does; because
there is no way to heaven, but to him to whom heaven
lies open; and he who reaches it will enter. What powers,
keeping guard at the gate, do I hear you affirm to
exist in accordance with Roman superstition, with a
certain Carnus, Forculus, and Limentinus? What powers
do you set in order at the railings? If you have ever
read in David, "Lift up your gates, ye princes,
and let the everlasting gates be lifted up; and the
King of glory shall enter in;"[4] if you have
also heard from Amos, "Who buildeth up to the
heavens his way of ascent, and is such as to pour forth
his abundance (of waters) over the earth;"[5]
know that both that way of ascent was thereafter levelled
with the ground, by the footsteps of the Lord, and
an entrance thereafter opened up by the might of Christ,
and that no delay or inquest will meet Christians on
the threshold, since they have there to be not discriminated
from one another, but owned, and not put to the question,
but received in. For though you think heaven still
shut, remember that the Lord left here to Peter and
through him to the Church, the keys of it, which every
one who has been here put to the question, and also
made confession, will carry with him. But the devil
stoutly affirms that we must confess there, to persuade
us that we must deny here. I shall send before me fine
documents, to be sure,[6] I shall carry with me excellent
keys, the fear of them who kill the body only, but
do nought against the soul: I shall be graced by the
neglect of this command: I shall stand with credit
in heavenly places, who could not stand in earthly:
I shall hold out against the greater powers, who yielded
to the lesser: I shall deserve to be at length let
in, though now shut out. It readily occurs to one to
remark further, "If it is in heaven that men must
confess, it is here too that they must deny."
For where the one is, there both are. For contraries
always go together. There will need to be carried on
in heaven persecution even, which is the occasion of
confession or denial. Why, then, do you refrain, O
most presumptuous heretic, from transporting to the
world above the whole series of means proper to the
intimidation of Christians, and especially to put there
the very hatred for the name, where Christ rules at
the right hand of the Father? Will you plant there
both synagogues of the Jews--fountains of persecution--before
which the apostles endured the scourge, and heathen
assemblages with their own circus, forsooth, where
they readily join in the cry, Death to the third race?[7]
But ye are bound to pro-

644

duce in the same place both our brothers, fathers, children,
mothers-in-law, daughters-in-law and those of our household,
through whose agency the betrayal has been appointed;
likewise kings, governors, and armed authorities, before
whom the matter at issue must be contested. Assuredly
there will be in heaven a prison also, destitute of
the sun's rays or full of light unthankfully, and fetters
of the zones perhaps, and, for a rack-horse, the axis
itself which whirls the heavens round. Then, if a Christian
is to be stoned, hail-storms will be near; if burned,
thunderbolts are at hand; if butchered, the armed Orion
will exercise his function; if put an end to by beasts,
the north will send forth the bears, the Zodiac the
bulls and the lions. He who will endure these assaults
to the end, the same shall be saved. Will there be
then, in heaven, both an end, and suffering, a killing,
and the first confession? And where will be the flesh
requisite for all this? Where the body which alone
has to be killed by men? Unerring reason has commanded
us to set forth these things in even a playful manner;
nor will any one thrust out the bar consisting in this
objection (we have offered), so as not to be compelled
to transfer the whole array of means proper to persecution,
all the powerful instrumentality which has been provided
for dealing with this matter, to the place where he
has put the court before which confession should be
made. Since confession is elicited by persecution,
and persecution ended in confession, there cannot but
be at the same time, in attendance upon these, the
instrumentality which determines both the entrance
and the exit, that is, the beginning and the end. But
both hatred for the name will be here, persecution
breaks out here, betrayal brings men forth here, examination
uses force here, torture rages here, and confession
or denial completes this whole course of procedure
on the earth. Therefore, if the other things are here,
confession also is not elsewhere; if confession is
elsewhere, the other things also are not here. Certainly
the other things are not elsewhere; therefore neither
is confession in heaven. Or, if they will have it that
the manner in which the heavenly examination and confession
take place is different, it will certainly be also
incumbent on them to devise a mode of procedure of
their own of a very different kind, and opposed to
that method which is indicated in the Scriptures. And
we may be able to say, Let them consider (whether what
they imagine to exist does so), if so be that this
course of procedure, proper to examination and confession
on earth--a course which has persecution as the source
in which it originates, and which pleads dissension
in the state--is preserved to its own faith, if so
be that we must believe just as is also written, and
understand just as is spoken. Here I endure the entire
course (in question), the Lord Himself not appointing
a different quarter of the world for any doing so.
For what does He add after finishing with confession
and denial? "Think not that I am come to send
peace on earth, but a sword,"--undoubtedly on
the earth. "For I am come to set a man at variance
against his father, and the daughter against her mother,
and the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law.
And a man's foes shall be they of his own household."[1]
For so is it brought to pass, that the brother delivers
up the brother to death, and the father the son: and
the children rise up against the parents, and cause
them to die. And he who endureth to the end let that
man be saved.[2] So that this whole course of procedure
characteristic of the Lord's sword, which has been
sent not to heaven, but to earth, makes confession
also to be there, which by enduring to the end is to
issue in the suffering of death.

CHAP. XI.

In the same manner, therefore, we maintain that
the other announcements too refer to the condition
of martyrdom. "He," says Jesus, "who
will value his own life also more than me, is not worthy
of me,"[3]--that is, he who will rather live by
denying, than die by confessing, me; and "he who
findeth his life shall lose it; but he who loseth it
for my sake shall find it.''[4] Therefore indeed he
finds it, who, in winning life, denies; but he who
thinks that he wins it by denying, will lose it in
hell. On the other hand, he who, through confessing,
is killed, will lose it for the present, but is also
about to find it unto everlasting life. In fine, governors
themselves, when they urge men to deny, say, "Save
your life;" and, "Do not lose your life."
How would Christ speak, but in accordance with the
treatment to which the Christian would be subjected?
But when He forbids thinking about what answer to make
at a judgment-seat,[5] He is preparing His own servants
for what awaited them, He gives the assurance that
the Holy Spirit will answer by them; and when He wishes
a brother to be visited in prison,[6] He is commanding
that those about to confess be the object of solicitude;
and He is soothing their

645

sufferings when He asserts that God will avenge His
own elect.[1] In the parable also of the withering
of the word[2] after the green blade had sprung up,
He is drawing a picture with reference to the burning
heat of persecutions. If these announcements are not
understood as they are made, without doubt they signify
something else than the sound indicates; and there
will be one thing in the words, another in their meanings,
as is the case with allegories, with parables, with
riddles. Whatever wind of reasoning, therefore, these
scorpions may catch (in their sails), with whatever
subtlety they may attack, there is now one line of
defence:[3] an appeal will be made to the facts themselves,
whether they occur as the Scriptures represent that
they would; since another thing will then be meant
in the Scriptures if that very one (which seems to
be so) is not found in actual facts. For what is written,
must needs come to pass. Besides, what is written will
then come to pass, if something different does not.
But, lo! we are both regarded as persons to be hated
by all men for the, sake of the name, as it is written;
and are delivered up by our nearest of kin also, as
it is written; and are brought before magistrates,
and examined, and tortured, and make confession, and
are ruthlessly killed, as it is written. So the Lord
ordained. If He ordained these events otherwise, why
do they not come to pass otherwise than He ordained
them, that is, as He ordained them? And yet they do
not come to pass otherwise than He ordained. Therefore,
as they come to pass, so He ordained; and as He ordained,
so they come to pass. For neither would they have been
permitted to occur otherwise than He ordained, nor
for His part would He have ordained otherwise than
He would wish them to occur. Thus these passages of
Scripture will not mean ought else than we recognise
in actual facts; or if those events are not yet taking
place which are announced, how are those taking place
which have not been announced? For these events which
are taking place have not been announced, if those
which are announced are different, and not these which
are taking place. Well now, seeing the very occurrences
are met with in actual life which are believed to have
been expressed with a different meaning in words, what
would happen if they were found to have come to pass
in a different manner than had been revealed? But this
will be the waywardness of faith, not to believe what
has been demonstrated, to assume the truth of what
has not been demonstrated. And to this waywardness
I will offer the following objection also, that if
these events, which occur as is written, will not be
the very ones which are announced, those too (which
are meant) ought not to occur as is written, that they
themselves also may not, after the example of these
others, be in danger of exclusion, since there is one
thing in the words and another in the facts; and there
remains that even the events which have been announced
are not seen when they occur, if they are announced
otherwise than they have to occur. And how will those
be believed (to have come to pass), which will not
have been announced as they come to pass? Thus heretics,
by not believing what is announced as it has been shown
to have taken place, believe what has not been even
announced.

CHAP. XII.

Who, now, should know better the marrow of the Scriptures
than the school of Christ itself?--the persons whom
the Lord both chose for Himself as scholars, certainly
to be fully instructed in all points, and appointed
to us for masters to instruct us in all points. To
whom would He have rather made known the veiled import
of His own language, than to him to whom He disclosed
the likeness of His own glory--to Peter, John, and
James, and afterwards to Paul, to whom He granted participation
in (the joys of) paradise too, prior to his martyrdom?
Or do they also write differently from what they think--teachers
using deceit, not truth? Addressing the Christians
of Pontus, Peter, at all events, says, "How great
indeed is the glory, if ye suffer patiently, without
being punished as evildoers ! For this is a lovely
feature, and even hereunto were ye called, since Christ
also suffered for us, leaving you Himself as an example,
that ye should follow His own steps."[4] And again:
"Beloved, be not alarmed by the fiery trial which
is taking place among you, as though some strange thing
happened unto you. For, inasmuch as ye are partakers
of Christ's sufferings, do ye rejoice; that, when His
glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding
joy. If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, happy
are ye; because glory and the Spirit of God rest upon
you: if only none of you suffer as a murderer, or as
a thief, or as an evil-doer, or as a busybody in other
men's matters; yet (if any man suffer) as a Christian,
let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on
this behalf."[5] John,

646

in fact, exhorts us to lay down our lives even for our
brethren,[1] affirming that there is no fear in love:
"For perfect love casteth out fear, since fear
has punishment; and he who fears is not perfect in
love."[2] What fear would it be better to understand
(as here meant), than that which gives rise to denial?
What love does he assert to be perfect, but that which
puts fear to flight, and gives courage to confess?
What penalty will he appoint as the punishment of fear,
but that which he who denies is about to pay, who has
to be slain, body and soul, in hell? And if he teaches
that we must die for the brethren, how much more for
the Lord,--he being sufficiently prepared, by his own
Revelation too, forgiving such advice ! For indeed
the Spirit had sent the injunction to the angel of
the church in Smyrna: "Behold, the devil shall
cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried
ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give
thee a crown of life."[3] Also to the angel of
the church in Pergamus (mention was made) of Antipas,[4]
the very faithful martyr, who was slain where Satan
dwelleth. Also to the angel of the church in Philadelphia[5]
(it was signified) that he who had not denied the name
of the Lord was delivered from the last trial. Then
to every conqueror the Spirit promises now the tree
of life, and exemption from the second death; now the
hidden manna with the stone of glistening whiteness,
and the name unknown ( to every man save him that receiveth
it); now power to rule with a rod of iron, and the
brightness of the morning star; now the being clothed
in white raiment, and not having the name blotted out
of the book of life, and being made in the temple of
God a pillar with the inscription on it of the name
of God and of the Lord, and of the heavenly Jerusalem;
now a sitting with the Lord on His throne,--which once
was persistently refused to the sons of Zebedee.[6]
Who, pray, are these so blessed conquerors, but martyrs
in
the strict sense of the word?For indeed theirs are the
victories whose also are the fights; theirs, however,
are the fights whose also is the blood. But the souls
of the martyrs both peacefully rest in the meantime
under the altar,[7] and support their patience by the
assured hope of revenge; and, clothed in their robes,
wear the dazzling halo of brightness, until others
also may fully share in their glory. For yet again
a countless throng are revealed, clothed in white and
distinguished by palms of victory, celebrating their
triumph doubtless over Antichrist, since one of the
elders says, "These are they who come out of that
great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and
made them white in the blood of the Lamb."[8]
For the flesh is the clothing of the soul. The uncleanness,
indeed, is washed away by baptism, but the stains are
changed into dazzling whiteness by martyrdom. For Esaias
also promises, that out of red and scarlet there will
come forth the whiteness of snow and wool? When great
Babylon likewise is represented as drunk with the blood
of the saints,[10] doubtless the supplies needful for
her drunkenness are furnished by the cups of martyrdoms;
and what suffering the fear of martyrdoms will entail,
is in like manner shown. For among all the castsways,
nay, taking precedence of them all, are the fearful.
"But the fearful," says John--and then come
the others--" will have their part in the lake
of fire and brimstone."[11] Thus fear, which,
as stated in his epistle, love drives out, has punishment.

CHAP. XIII.

But how Paul, an apostle, from being a persecutor,
who first of all shed the blood of the church, though
afterwards he exchanged the sword for the pen, and
turned the dagger into a plough, being first a ravening
wolf of Benjamin, then himself supplying food as did
Jacob,[12]--how he, (I say,) speaks in favour of martyrdoms,
now to be chosen by himself also, when, rejoicing
over the Thessalonians, he says, "So that we glory
in you in the churches of God, for your patience and
faith in all your persecutions and tribulations, in
which ye endure a manifestation of the righteous judgment
of God, that ye may be accounted worthy of His kingdom,
for which ye also suffer ![13] As also in his Epistle
to the Romans: "And not only so, but we glory
in tribulations also, being sure that tribulation worketh
patience, and patience experience, and experience hope;
and hope maketh not ashamed."[14] And again: "And
if children, then heirs, heirs indeed of God, and joint-heirs
with Christ: if so be that we suffer with Him, that
we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that
the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us."[15]
And therefore he afterward says: "Who shall separate
us from the love of God? Shall

647

tribulation, or distress, or famine, or nakedness, or
peril, or sword? (As it is written: For Thy sake we
are killed all the day long; we have been counted as
sheep for the slaughter,) Nay, in all these things
we are more than conquerors, through Him who loved
us. For we are persuaded, that neither death, nor life,
nor power, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."[1] But further,
in recounting his own sufferings to the Corinthians,
he certainly decided that suffering must be borne:
"In labours, (he says,) more abundant, in prisons
very frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times
received I forty stripes, save one; thrice was I beaten
with rods; once was I stoned,"[2] and the rest.
And if these severities will seem to be more grievous
than martyrdoms, yet once more he says: "Therefore
I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities,
in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake."[3]
He also says, in verses occurring in a previous part
of the epistle: "Our condition is such, that we
are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; and
are in need, but not in utter want; since we are harassed
by persecutions, but not forsaken; it is such that
we are east down, but not destroyed; always bearing
about in our body the dying of Christ."[4] "But
though," says he, "our outward man perisheth"--the
flesh doubtless, by the violence of persecutions-"yet
the inward man is renewed day by day"--the soul,
doubtless, by hope in the promises. "For our light
affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for
us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
while we look not at the things which are seen, but
at the things which are not seen. For the things which
are seen are temporal"--he is speaking of troubles;"
but the things which are not seen are eternal"--he
is promising rewards. But writing in bonds to the Thessalonians,[5]
he certainly affirmed that they were blessed, since
to them it had been given not only to believe on Christ,
but also to suffer for His sake. "Having,"
says he, "the same conflier which ye both saw
in me, and now hear to be in me."[6] "For
though I are offered upon the sacrifice, I joy and
rejoice with you all; in like manner do ye also joy
and rejoice with me." You see what he decides
the bliss of martyrdom to be, in honour of which he
is providing a festival of mutual joy. When at length
he had come to be very near the attainment of his desire,
greatly rejoicing in what he saw before him, he writes
in these terms to Timothy: "For I am already being
offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I
have fought the good fight, I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith; there is laid up for me the
crown which the Lord will give me on that day"[7]--doubtless
of his suffering. Admonition enough did he for his
part also give in preceding passages: "It is a
faithful saying: For if we are dead with Christ, we
shall also live with Him; if we suffer, we shall also
reign with Him; if we deny Him, He also will deny us;
if we believe not, yet He is faithful: He cannot deny
Himself."[8] "Be not thou, therefore, ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner;"[9]
for he had said before: "For God hath not given
us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and
of a sound mind."[10] For we suffer with power
from love toward God, and with a sound mind, when we
suffer for our blamelessness. But further, if He anywhere
enjoins endurance, for what more than for sufferings
is He providing it? If anywhere He tears men away from
idolatry, what more than martyrdoms takes the lead,
in tearing them away to its injury?

CHAP. XIV.

No doubt the apostle admonishes the Romans[11] to
be subject to all power, because there is no power
but of God, and because (the ruler) does not carry
the sword without reason, and is the servant of God,
nay also, says he, a revenger to execute wrath upon
him that doeth evil. For he had also previously spoken
thus: "For rulers are not a terror to a good work,
but to an evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the
power? Do that which is good, and thou shall have praise
of it. Therefore he is a minister of God to thee for
good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid."
Thus he bids you be subject to the powers, not on an
opportunity occurring for his avoiding martyrdom, but
when he is making an appeal in behalf of a good life,
under the view also of their being as it were assistants
bestowed upon righteousness, as it were handmaids of
the divine court of justice, which even here pronounces
sentence beforehand upon the guilty. Then he goes on
also to show how he wishes you to be subject to the
powers, bidding you pay "tribute to whom tribute
is due, custom to whom custom,"[12] that is, the
things which are Caesar's

648

to Caesar, and the things which are God's to God;[1]
but man is the property of God alone. Peter,[2] no
doubt, had likewise said that the king indeed must
be honoured, yet so that the king be honoured only
when he keeps to his own sphere, when he is far from
assuming divine honours; because both father and mother
will be loved along with God, not put on an equality
with Him. Besides, one will not be permitted to love
even life more than God.

CHAP. XV.

Now, then, the epistles of the apostles also are
well known. And do we, (you say), in all respects guileless
souls and doves merely, love to go astray? I should
think from eagerness to live. But let it be so, that
meaning departs from their epistles. And yet, that
the apostles endured such sufferings, we know: the
teaching is clear. This only I perceive in running
through the Acts. I am not at all on the search. The
prisons there, and the bonds, and the scourges, and
the big stones, and the swords, and the onsets by the
Jews, and the assemblies of the heathen, and the indictments
by tribunes, and the hearing of causes by kings, and
the judgment-seats of proconsuls and the name of Caesar,
do not need an interpreter. That Peter is struck,[3]
that Stephen is overwhelmed by stones,[4] that James
is slain[5] as is a victim at the altar, that Paul
is beheaded has been written in their own blood. And
if a heretic wishes his confidence to rest upon a public
record, the archives of the empire will speak, as would
the stones of Jerusalem. We read the lives of the Caesars:
At Rome Nero was the first who stained with blood the
rising faith. Then is Peter girt by another,[6] when
he is made fast to the cross. Then does Paul obtain
a birth suited to Roman citizenship, when in Rome he
springs to life again ennobled by martyrdom. Wherever
I read of these occurrencer so soon as I do so, I learn
to suffer; nor does it signify to me which I follow
as teachers of martyrdom, whether the declarations
or the deaths of the apostles, save that in their deaths
I recall their declarations also. For they would not
have suffered ought of a kind they had not previously
known they had to suffer. When Agabus, making use of
corresponding action too, had foretold that bonds awaited
Paul, the disciples, weeping and entreating that he
would not venture upon going to Jerusalem, entreated
in vain.[7] As for him, having a mind to illustrate
what he had always taught, he says, "Why weep
ye, and grieve my heart? But for my part, I could wish
not only to suffer bonds, but also to die at Jerusalem,
for the name of my Lord Jesus Christ." And so
they yielded by saying, "Let the will of the Lord
be done;" feeling sure, doubtless, that sufferings
are included in the will of God. For they had tried
to keep him back with the intention not of dissuading,
but to show love for him; as yearning for (the preservation
of) the apostle, not as counselling against martyrdom.
And if even then a Prodicus or Valentinus stood by,
suggesting that one must not confess on the earth before
men, and must do so the less in truth, that God may
not (seem to) thirst for blood, and Christ for a repayment
of suffering, as though He besought it with the view
of obtaining salvation by it for Himself also, he would
have immediately heard from the servant of God what
the devil had from the Lord: "Get thee behind
me, Satan; thou art an offence unto me. It is written,
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt
thou serve."[8] But even now it will be right
that he hear it, seeing that, long after, he has poured
forth these poisons, which not even thus are to injure
readily any of the weak ones, if any one in faith will
drink, before being hurt, or even immediately after,
this draught of ours.

Ever since the dawn of modern rationalism, skeptics have sought to use textual criticism, archaeology and historical reconstructions to uncover the "historical Jesus" -- a wise teacher who said many wonderful things, but fulfilled no prophecies, performed no miracles and certainly did not rise from the dead in triumph over sin.

Over the past 100 years, however, startling discoveries in biblical archaeology and scholarship have all but vanquished the faulty assumptions of these doubting modernists. Regretably, these discoveries have often been ignored by the skeptics as well as by the popular media. As a result, the liberal view still holds sway in universities and impacts the culture and even much of the church.

This presentation explodes the myths of these critics and the movies, books and television programs that have popularized their views.

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Who is the dreaded beast of Revelation? Now at last, a plausible candidate
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Historical footage and other graphics are used to illustrate the lecture Dr. Gentry
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Ideal for group meetings, personal Bible study -- for anyone who wants to understand
the historical context of John's famous letter "... to the seven churches
which are in Asia." (Revelation 1:4)

Just what is “Calvinism?” Does this teaching make man a deterministic robot and God the author of sin? What about free will? If the church accepts Calvinism, won’t evangelism be stifled, perhaps even extinguished? How can we balance God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility? What are the differences between historic Calvinism and hyper-Calvinism? Why did men like Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Spurgeon, Whitefield, Edwards and a host of renowned Protestant evangelists embrace the teaching of predestination and election and deny free will theology?

This is the first video documentary that answers these and other related questions. Hosted by Eric Holmberg, this fascinating three-part, four-hour presentation is detailed enough so as to not gloss over the controversy. At the same time, it is broken up into ten “Sunday-school-sized” sections to make the rich content manageable and accessible for the average viewer.

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The Real Jesus:
A Defense of the Divinity and Historicity of Christ
is now available! This is a two hour, ten minute presentation debunking the myths about Jesus propogated by liberal theologians, which seem to be repeated endlessly in the popular media. You can order the newly expanded and improved DVD version hosted by Eric Holmberg and view some video clips from "Podcast" version as well ...